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THE AQUATIC ATTRACTIONS OF GREAT YARMOUTH?
Text by David Marshall, Photographs by Sue and David Marshall
The Norfolk seaside town of Great Yarmouth is famous for its golden sands,
amusement arcades and vast choice of fast foods. However, for Aquarists, it
holds the magic of having three places of aquatic interest, all within a few
minutes' walk of each other, situated on the main promenade.
The Great Yarmouth Sea-Life Centre
 Sue
and I had heard so many excellent comments, through both 'word of mouth' and
on the Internet, about this attraction that we walked through the entrance
door with high expectations. We would not be disappointed as the displays here
are excellent and cover a vast array of aquatic life.
The first section is home to several large and themed aquaria, which display a
diversity of native marine fish. Among the fish to be seen are Conger Eel,
various Wrasse, Nursehound and Gilthead.
 Conger
Eel
The second section features Compass, Upside-down and Moon Jellyfish. Please
note that anyone with an aversion to strobe lighting should not linger very
long in this section.
 Blue
Triggerfish
Now we move on to the glory of 'Shark Bay'. Ten aquaria, of various sizes, are
home to a wonderful array of creatures both native to the North Sea and those
which have been brought to the Centre after been carried to Norfolk on the
Gulf Stream. The mischievous activities of the Tompot Blenny were a joy to
behold whilst the beauty of Blue Triggerfish (hundreds of miles from home) was
here for all to see. This area ends with a touch pool and the Warden was truly
enjoying himself as he explained the fascination of Starfish and various Crabs
to entranced visitors.
 The
Warden explains the wonders of Starfish
In the 'Harbour' Pollack and Cuckoo Wrasse are beautifully displayed.
Now we enter the 'Tropical Zone'. Here you are best to forget the fact that
fish from different corners of the World are mixed together and just sit back
and enjoy the excellent displays.
Three tropical freshwater aquaria begin the 'Zone'. The first of these is a
well planned 'fish senses' display that mixes Blind Cave Characins and Black
Ghost Knifefish in order to show the use of electrical navigation in certain
fish. To display livebearers the next aquaria mixes Platys, Guppies and
Swordtails whilst, for some reason, throwing a few small egglaying Characins
into the mix. The final aquaria of the three, houses Amazonian Stingrays,
Congo Tetras and one of the largest Clown Loach I have seen in many a year. A
wonderful Chinese River Turtle and Axolotls complete the freshwater displays.
 Chinese
River Turtle
What follows are several spectacular tropical marine displays. All of the
aquaria here are beautifully decorated and complemented with fish of high
quality. Various Tangs and Porcupinefish were the highlight for me. The tunnel
that ends this 'Zone' would, I am sure, be the favourite attraction for many
visitors, due to its various Sharks and shoal of Fingerfish; however, I
actually preferred the smaller displays.
 Tropical
Eels
'Pirates Cove' continues the tropical marine theme. Young visitors were eager
to see the 'Nemo' exhibit as here are all their favourite film characters 'in
the flesh'. Sue was taken with the many Seahorse exhibits which end the visit.
 Nemo's
and friends
By the time you read this report a newly constructed Penguin exhibit will add
even more to the attraction.
What you need at the Yarmouth Sea-Life Centre is plenty of time. My condensed
report does not give the Centre the full credit it deserves. The 'must visit'
Great Yarmouth attraction.
Amazonia World of Reptiles
 In
contrast to the Sea-Life Centre this attraction is not, as yet, fully
established. Here you find yourself in a large display area similar to that of
a Zoological Garden Tropical House. Three centre-piece displays are surrounded
by a large number of variously sized glass enclosures, vivariums and 'bug
display' areas. Well arranged tropical plant displays and authentic jungle
sounds complete the picture.
 Authentic
jungle surround
The collection of amphibians and reptiles is excellent and includes Garter
Snake, Asian Box Turtle, Horsefaced Tortoise, Green Iguana and Speckled
Caiman. What all of the creatures displayed had in common was that they looked
in good health and had plenty of space in which to move around.
 One
of many well cared for snakes
What about the fish interest? Built around two of the centre-piece display
areas, for a large American Alligator and various Turtles respectively, are
ponds containing assorted strains of Goldfish. You could tell that these fish
were in good health by both their size and deep body colour.
 Goldfish and Terrapins
We enjoyed this attraction and recommend that you pay a visit.
3. Merrivale Miniature Village
 
For sheer family escapism they have thought of everything here. Beautifully
landscaped gardens are contrasted with model displays that not only depict
scenes from both modern day life and long gone days but also include a
terrific model railway layout.
Plenty of seating allows the chance to relax and, literally, return to
childhood days as you revel in the model castle (complete with damsel in
distress), 60's Zoo (the model animals here are fantastic although you would
have needed to visit China to have seen so many Giant Panda) and 60's Funfair
among many others.
And yes, there are fish here also! In the main lake we counted 3 large Koi but
there could have been more as a roped -off section was full, at the time of
our visit, with hundreds of fry. As this was mid-May a number of channels
running into the lake were home to growing Frog tadpoles.
As your Merrivale visit ends forget the fast food establishments and spend
time relaxing in the excellent cafeteria here with its large selection of
snacks and cooked meals.
For us the Merrivale experience was an unexpected delight.
So Aquarists here is your chance to suggest to the family that a visit to
Great Yarmouth may be a good idea. I suppose you could conveniently forget,
until you are walking down the promenade, that you had a fishkeeping motive
behind such a suggestion!
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